


Life and Lemons

by lovesickjily



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Muggle, F/M, Parenthood, Single Parents, Somewhat crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-27 08:37:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13244559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovesickjily/pseuds/lovesickjily
Summary: Harry loves his parents dearly, but he would love it even more if they were together. He decides to play cupid in an effort to have a happy family.





	Life and Lemons

The landscape seemed to pass by in a blur as the car drove down the road, occasionally weaving in between other cars.

Harry loved riding in cars, or any vehicle for that matter.

He remembered when that one time they— Harry and his mother— took the London Underground to get to Aunt Petunia’s house because driving would take too long, as she lived three hours away. That was the only reason he liked going to her house. 

Every other part about going to her house Harry hated. Aunt Petunia had yelled at his mummy because she had Harry out of marriage, and she called her a bunch of mean words. Harry hated seeing his mummy cry; she was one of the two best people in the world— the other being his daddy— and she didn’t deserve it. Harry thought it was stupid that his mummy was being treated poorly when she had come up with the idea for them to catch up on everything. Mummy was being a nice and caring sister.

“Stop it! Mummy didn’t do anything to you!” Harry had yelled out, but Lily had told him that it wasn’t his battle to fight.

Harry had scrambled to call his daddy to come pick them up, as he didn’t like it when his mummy was sad and he had a feeling that his daddy could make things better. In the meantime, Harry gave his mummy as many hugs and comforting words as he could in the guest room.

When James did show up, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had bellowed at him to leave, that he wasn’t wanted there. Harry thought his daddy was so cool, as he told them to shove off and he walked into the house anyway. 

Harry watched his daddy give his mummy the biggest hug in the world, whispering a bunch of reassuring words into her ear. He wanted to say that he already tried to make Mummy feel better, that there was no need, but his daddy was a professional at making people happy. He knew what what was doing. 

They had walked out to James’s car not soon after, and his daddy asked him to wait in the car while he and mummy had an adult talk. Harry felt left out— he wanted to know what they were talking about— but he knew it was not up to him to decide. He chose to stare out the window, making up stories for the families living in the houses nearby.

His parents got into the car, his daddy making occasion comments about miscellaneous things as he drove and getting a laugh from his mummy each time. His daddy urged her to go to sleep, that the drive would be long, and soon after, she fell asleep on his shoulder. Harry saw a relaxed expression on his dad’s face.

Harry had thought that day would be the day his mummy and daddy would be together, and they could all be one happy family, but everything went back to normal as it did before, where he would alternate between living with each parent every week. 

He loved both of his parents dearly and equally, but he didn’t like that living arrangement. He thought it’d be much better if they all lived together.

Harry felt the car coming to a stop, and he saw that he was at his daddy’s house. He forgot how quick it was to go from mummy to daddy’s house; they only lived a few minutes away from one another.

“Remember Harry, don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do, and please don’t give your daddy a hard time,” his mummy reminded him as she picked up his bag from the car floor.

“Don’t do anything that I would be willing to do,” a deep voice chuckled, that voice belonging to his dad. He took the bag from his mummy’s hand and gave her a small smile. “Lily.”

“James.” She gave him a curt nod.

“Harry!” he beamed, wanting to be part of their name exchange, which made his dad ruffle his hair in response.

“Anything new with this little bloke?” James asked, a question that could have been directed to either Harry or his mother.

“Nope.” Harry had said at the same time his mother had said: “He’s got a dentist’s appointment at 3:00 Thursday.” He shot her an innocent look as she gave him a short glare.

“Ah, nice try, bud,” James laughed. 

“I hate the dentist. They always put weird stuff in my mouth, but I brush my teeth everyday! It’s not fair, Daddy.” Harry pouted.

“Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I go to the dentist sometimes too.”

“Really?” Harry asked, to which James nodded. “But Daddy, you’re too cool for the dentist.”

“Even cool people have to get their teeth checked up,” Lily added.

“I can still be cool like Daddy?” Harry’s eyes lit up.

“Anyone can be cooler than Daddy.” Lily smiled, and James made a sound of mock offense.

“I’m hurt, Lil.”

“That was my intention.”

“Mummy! You should apologize whenever you’re being mean!” Harry reprimanded her, recalling the many times she had scolded him for his behavior and thus using her scolding against her.

“Honestly, Lily. You should know better,” James agreed, an amused look on his face.

Lily rolled her eyes. “‘I’m terribly sorry, James.”

“I don’t know if I can accept your apology.”

“Daddy, it’s not good to hold a grudge against other people.” It was now Lily’s turn to laugh. His mother had taught him many lessons in life, which Harry took to heart because she was wise, and he knew he needed to better himself so his mummy and daddy could continue to forever love him. A life without his parents’ love was a sad life, indeed.

“He got you there.”

“Well I suppose I must accept your apology, or I’ll have to face the wrath of our adorable son.” James pinched Harry’s left cheek lightly to emphasize the small boy’s youth.

“I’m six years old! I’m a big boy now,” Harry said, flexing his little arms to show off his “muscles.”

“To me, you’re always going to be my baby boy,” Lily replied, bending down to give him a peck on the cheek. “I should go now.”

“Do you really have to go now, Mummy?” Harry whined.

“You could stay over for lunch,” James added. “Wouldn’t mind the extra company.”

She paused with her hand on the car door, shooting them a sympathetic look. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“Right! No, no. I get it. We’re adults. We’re busy. We have things to do,” James replied, a hand running through his hair. Harry noticed his daddy tended to do that a lot, especially when things didn’t happen the way he wanted them to or when he was nervous. Mostly it happened whenever he was around Lily or when Harry said something stupid. 

“I’m sorry again,” she repeated. James shrugged at her.

“Come on. Let’s go inside, Har. I’ll see you, yeah Lily?”

“Every week as always.” Lily’s lips tugged upwards at him, and she gave Harry a hug before leaving. Harry and his father watched the car leave, Harry waving at it until he couldn’t see it anymore. When the car disappeared from their sight, James turned towards Harry and gave him a wide smile.

“Oi, mate, you down for a game of football?” Harry’s face lit up, and he ran into the house. He loved that part about going to Daddy’s house; Mummy was nice and all, but Daddy was always down to play the games involving physical activity with Harry. Plus, Harry loved playing football. He thought it was so exciting to kick at a ball and score goals.

Sometimes Harry wondered how his life would have been like if his parents were in each others’ lives as much as they were in Harry’s.

By sometimes Harry meant a lot of the time.

His parents always managed to make him happy and always knew what was best for him, so wouldn’t it make sense that they could do the same thing for each other?

Harry asked his daddy about it one day.

James was making lasagna for dinner that night, and Harry had been there to help him. 

“Daddy, why aren’t you and Mummy together?” James paused in mixing the sauce and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, which Harry thought was a cool trick. Whenever he tried to do that, he ended up raising both of his eyebrows and widening his already huge eyes.

“Harry, I’m not so sure you’d understand,” he said slowly. 

“But you love Mummy, don’t you?”

“Of course I love your mummy, Harry. There’s just so much more to it than love.”

Harry looked crestfallen. “Everyone in my class always talks about how happy they are with their mummy and daddy.”

“Not every family’s the same, Har,” James said, using his free hand to squeeze his side.

“I know, but it’s not fair. You and Mummy deserve everything good in the world.” Harry’s words only got a chuckle from his father.

“Don’t think too much about it, bud.” James gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Want to help me mix, this?”

“Sure!” James handed Harry the mixing spoon, and he stood on the tips of his toes to reach the bowl. James laughed when some of the sauce spilled out, and if it was his mother who he was with instead, she would have scolded him for not being careful enough.

James must have thought that Harry dropped the conversation, as he was surprised to hear his son pressing on the matter. “Daddy, if you and Mummy had me, then that means you must have been together before, right?”

“I— yeah, but Harry, things change,” he sighed. Harry didn’t like his daddy’s answer because of course things change! Harry was getting bigger everyday, and he was always learning new things, whether it was from his mother teaching him lessons in life to his teacher Ms. Melody teaching him how to spell words— he knew how to spell the word ‘apple’!— or just other silly lessons his daddy would teach him, like the one with free lemons and squeezing them.

Harry watched his dad spread the meat sauce into a baking dish, which attracted Harry’s attention. “Can I put the lasagna noodles in?” Harry asked, knowing full well what the next step would be.

“Sure thing.” He carefully placed the noodles in the dish, making sure not to mess it up. He wanted his daddy to be proud of him. 

James slid the dish into the oven and set the timer for the lasagna. “All right, mate. What do you want to do while we wait?”

“Can you tell me stories of you and Uncle Padfoot and Uncle Moony and Uncle Wormtail?” he asked, practically jumping up and down at the thought of his dad’s earlier years. His daddy always told him fun stories.

“‘Course. Let’s see.. Have I told you about the time your Uncle Padfoot and I set off fireworks in the school hallway to distract everyone from realizing that our true goals were to steal food from the kitchens?”

Harry’s eyes were shining bright. “No. Daddy, tell me more!”

James chuckled. “All right. So that day, they were serving some absolutely delicious food, and your Uncle and I were banned from eating from the cafeteria…”

And so it went like that for the next 25 minutes, father and son laughing over memories that they had recollected. Harry loved spending time with his dad, the love and respect he felt towards him growing each time. When the timer for the lasagna ticked, James grabbed his kitchen gloves and slowly took it out of the oven, careful not to burn himself. He placed it on the table so that Harry could get a nice view of it.

“It smells delicious,” Harry awed, taking in the nice aromatic smell of the dish.

James let out a heart laugh. “You can get the plates and forks while it cools down, yeah?” Harry nodded eagerly and ran into the kitchen.

And that was typically how the Potter men lived.

Sometimes Uncle Padfoot paid them a visit. Harry loved it when he came because he got along with him so well, and Harry approved of him as being his godfather and his daddy’s best friend. His daddy was cool, but Uncle Padfoot had a motorbike and he wore shades even when it was cloudy outside and when the sun as barely even visible. How cool was that! Sometimes Harry would try to convince him to let him ride his motorbike, but it was a no every time.

“Your dad would kill me if you got even a scratch,” Sirius told him, and Harry pouted.

“But you’re good at driving it! I won’t get hurt,” Harry pleaded. 

“Harry, imagine how your mother would react if you even stood next to the bike.” Harry sighed. Uncle Padfoot was right; his mummy probably would have locked him in the house for eternity, and his daddy would have mentioned the lemons again, except this time the lemons were old and moldy and nobody wanted to make lemonade out of nasty lemons. Harry liked lemonade, but that was crossing the line.

“Uncle Paddy? Can I ask you a question?” Harry had asked one day. His daddy was outside mowing the lawn, and so Harry stayed inside with Sirius. 

Sirius looked up from the newspaper he was reading. “I’m afraid you already have,” he said, which earned a groan from Harry. “What’s up, Little Prongs?”

“Why won’t Mummy and Daddy be together?” Usually Harry’s questions wouldn’t have made Sirius put his paper down, but this question prompted him to slap the paper down and give the child his full attention.

“You know, I’ve been asking myself this same question for years.” Harry grew hopeful.

“So you think Mummy and Daddy were meant to be?”

“Harry, everyone thinks your parents were meant to be,” Sirius answered, pausing. Harry waited patiently for him to continue. “But at the time they were together, your dad loved your mum more than she loved him. Things got complicated, and it didn’t work out for them.”

“But they love each other a lot now,” Harry pointed out.

“You know, you’ve been pretty interested in their love life lately. James has been telling me about you mentioning this to him.” Harry turned red, looking down at his feet.

“I just want us all to be one happy family.”

Sirius sighed. “We all do.”

“Uncle Padfoot?”

“Nephew Harry?” 

“What if we, you know, did something to get them together?” he suggested slyly. Sirius raised his eyebrow at him. He did that a lot around Harry. 

“Did you really think that I’d help you come up with a plan to get your parents, who are so dearly in love with each other, together?” Harry suddenly felt stupid for even asking. Uncle Padfoot had better things to do in his life, like ride his motorbike around the city or possibly even around the whole world.

“No, but— “

“Because if you did,” Sirius turned to Harry with a devious glint in his eye, “you were right.”

Harry’s face lit up. “Really?”

“Honestly Harry, I have no idea why I haven’t done anything about it for years.”

“So what’s the plan?” Harry asked, a bit too excited if he thought so himself. It doesn’t matter, though. Mummy and Daddy would be together! (if the plan worked out)

“Before we begin, I have to warn you that this plan will involve you taking a big risk.”

“Okay!”

“Just like that?”

“If it means we’ll all be happy, yes!”

Sirius chuckled. “You really are his son, though I’d never doubt that from your looks.” Harry only smiled at him. “All right, so this is how it’s gonna go…”

Uncle Padfoot had explained to Harry that his parents would do anything for Harry and that in times of crisis, they would always be there together. The plan was simple— to do something that would force his parents to spend time with each other and bond.

And so a week later, Harry was back at his mummy’s house. They were eating breakfast, pancakes with sausage. Harry poured too much syrup on his pancakes, and it tasted too sweet, but Harry liked it anyway. The gooey mess was probably the best part, as that meant that Harry could wash his hands later, and he really liked to smell his hands after. The soap his mummy bought always smelled nice, and he had an excuse to use it. 

“Mummy, we should all go out to eat for dinner sometime. Us and Daddy,” Harry brought up, his mouth full of the sweet food.

“Baby, you know it’s not proper of you to eat with your mouth full.” Harry quickly swallowed the rest of the pancakes in his mouth before answering.

“Sorry Mummy.” He offered her the best sympathetic smile he could. “So is that a yes for the dinner?”

“Oh, Harry. You know your father and I aren’t on the best of terms.”

“Please, Mummy?” He jutted out his lip and widened his eyes, knowing that she found him irresistible when he did that. “Can we be one happy family for one night?”

She sighed at him. “I don’t know, Harry.”

“Daddy wants to do it. You love Daddy, don’t you?” Harry asked.

She looked at him in resignation. “You already asked your father?”

“Yep! He looked happy.” Harry thought if he mentioned that his daddy being around Mummy made him happy, then she would be more likely to say yes.

“All right. When is it?” Harry beamed at her.

“It’s on Friday. Daddy said he would pick us up.” 

The plan had now began.

When it was Friday, Lily had helped Harry change into one of his fanciest outfits he had.

“I can do it myself, Mummy,” he assured her, but when he had buttoned up his white dress shirt the wrong way, he stubbornly admitted that he needed help, and she laughed at him. She helped him put on his pants and strapped on his suspenders. “Okay, this time I can do it,” he’d said when it came to his shoes. He was proud of himself for knowing how to tie his shoes. The other kids in his class still needed help with that.

The one part about his appearance that they both needed help with was his hair. No matter how much product was applied to it, it would still be as unruly and messy as it was before, maybe even worse. He liked it though. It reminded him of his daddy, just as his green eyes reminded him of his mummy.

“My baby boy is so handsome,” Lily had cooed, making him flush. “Now why don’t you go watch the telly while I get ready?”

“Okay Mummy!” He raced into the living room and put on his favorite program. He became so absorbed in the show that was on that he had jumped when his mother had called out to him. He raced over to the bathroom where his mother had been getting ready. He was pleasantly surprised by the sight of his pretty mother, who was wearing a nice green dress and had nice, soft curls on her head. 

“Mummy, you look so pretty!” he had awed, to which she let out a soft laugh. His mother already was pretty on a normal day; Harry couldn’t believe that she could get any more beautiful than she already was.

“Thank you, Har.” She smiled at him. “Let’s see if your father is here, yeah?” He nodded frantically, excited for the night that was to come.

He opened the front door, and there was his father pulling up on his driveway. “Mummy, Mummy. Come on, Daddy’s here!” he jumped up in down.

“Well let’s go. Don’t want to keep him waiting, do we?” They walked out of the house, Lily making sure the door was locked, and towards James. Upon seeing them, he smiled and waved. He was sporting a suit that was obviously expensive, though his hair was still messy as usual.

“Daddy!” Harry wrapped his arms around the man, who scooped him up and swung him around.

“Hey, mate,” he grinned, placing the child back on the ground. He turned towards Lily, his eyes widening. “I— Lily. You look absolutely stunning.”

She smiled at him. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

James shook his head at her, smiling at the ground before looking back at the two. “We should go now.”

When they pulled up to the restaurant, Harry walked in between his parents. He took their hands, one of each parents’ hands in his own, and he slyly pulled their hands together so that they were holding the other’s hand instead of Harry’s. They jumped in surprise as if they had never held each other’s hands before (though Harry thought it had just been so long since they had held hands).

And to Harry’s surprise, they didn’t pull away. James smiled and mumbled to Lily, “Reminds me of when we were 18.” She simply smiled back and they went into the restaurant, Harry behind them. 

The funny thing was that the hand holding wasn’t part of the plan he’d made with Uncle Padfoot; he just wanted them to hold hands.

“Good evening, sir. Have you got a reservation?” the server asked them when they walked to the front. 

“Yes. Potter,” James answered, prompting the server to look through the list. He nodded.

“Follow me, then.” Harry couldn’t help but look all around the fancy restaurant. There was a really big aquarium with a bunch of fish, and Harry thought they looked so happy to be swimming around in the tank. There was a lot of those big fancy lights strung across the entire restaurant— chandeliers, he’d remember his daddy calling them. The waiter led them to a table and handed James and Lily menus. Lily and James sat across from one another while Harry sat on the side, right in between his parents. “Your waiter will be here soon. Have a nice night.”

“Thank you,” Lily smiled kindly at the man, who nodded and walked away.

“Wow! There’s so many choices!” Harry exclaimed, flipping through the pages, mostly just looking at the pictures of the food.

“It’s only sad that you can’t read what any of this says,” James laughed, attempting to take the menu back from Harry.

“Yeah I can! See, Daddy. This word says fish!” Harry beamed, pointing at the one word he could recognize from all the other fancy meals named after some sort of jargon.

“Does that mean you’ll be eating all fish?” Lily teased him, and he shook his head.

“FIsh is good, but I really like chicken.” Harry looked up from the menu, “Daddy, this sauce looks good.”

“I suppose you’d like the meal that comes with it?”

“Duh!” Lily and James smiled at their son’s antics.

Not soon after, the waiter came to take their orders and told them that it would not be long for their food to be ready. While they waited, they conversed about sweet little nothings such as how fancy the restaurant was to Harry’s milestones. To the other people around them, the three seemed like a happy family.

When the food came in, Harry rubbed his hands against each other and licked his lips. “Looks delicious!” he gushed.

“Well don’t stop me from letting you eat,” James laughed, picking up his fork.

“Why would I let you do that?” He asked, his voice muffled by the food in his mouth. Looking at his mother, Harry quickly chewed and added “Sorry, Mummy.”

“You’re learning,” she pointed out, and he beamed at her, broccoli evident in his teeth. He agreed that he was learning because right now life was giving him a bunch of lemons, which were present on the table, and that meant making lemonade. 

Harry eyed the sauce that he’d mentioned wanting to get and poked his finger into it, making sure to try it before using it completely. He licked it off his finger, the savory taste filling his mouth. “Mmm. This sauce is soo good.”

“Baby, that’s all you’ve been saying since we’ve gotten the food,” Lily said, taking a napkin to wipe his messy face.

“Because it is, Mummy!”

“I do have excellent taste in restaurants,” James smirked.

“Daddy, we should— “

Harry didn’t get to finish that thought because at that same moment Harry had begun to wheeze and found that breathing was difficult.

“Harry!” Lily and James rushed over to the small boy, whose face was progressively getting redder by the second. He cradled him under her arms. The waiters had run to them upon seeing what had happened. “What was in the sauce?”

“An assortment of ingredients, including walnuts— “

“He’s allergic to nuts! Fucking hell!” James had shouted.

“James, we have to get him to the hospital,” Lily lamented, tears evident on her face.

“Sir, ma’am, please remain calm. We will contact an ambulance— ” the waiter had butted in.

“No! That’s going to take too long. Lily, take Harry. I’ll drive us.” Lily sped out of the restaurant as quickly as she could in her heels while James, not too far behind her, left a generous amount of money on the table, possibly enough to pay for the everyone dining at the restaurant. He didn’t care how much money he left behind; he just wanted his little boy to be okay.

Not only did the landscape seemed to pass by in a blur as the car sped down the road, weaving in between other cars nearly every second, but so did Harry’s consciousness as his eyes waged a war between staying open or closing.

Harry loved riding in cars, or any vehicle for that matter, but at this point in time, he wanted nothing more than to be resting in a nice, comfortable bed. Mummy kept repeating that everything was going to be okay, though Harry was not sure who she was trying to convince. Through his half closed eyelids he could see her face wet with her tears, and he could feel the tears that had dripped onto his face as well. Daddy was in the front driving as fast as he could go, a stream of bad words coming out of his mouth every second, yelling that this matter was more important than whatever the other drivers were dealing with in the car.

Eventually Harry gave in to the sleep threatening to come through him.

They found themselves in a room not too long after, and the doctor was finishing up his last examinations on the small boy.

“Is he going to be okay, doctor?” Lily asked.

“Luckily, he was brought here on time. If he came even a minute later, he might not have made it. But yes, your son is going to be all right.” Lily sighed in relief, throwing her arms around James.

“Did you hear that? Our baby is going to be fine.” James’s heart quickened, and he wrapped his arms around her, moving them up and down soothingly.

“I heard Lil,” he replied, and— just because he was feeling a myriad of different emotions and love had appeared to be the most familiar out of all— he pressed a soft kiss on her temple. Lily shifted closer to him. The doctor, noticing that this moment was sacred between the two, quietly left the room, informing them that all they had to do left was wait for him to wake up.

“Do you regret it?” James had asked when the door closed shut.

“You’ll have to be more specific than that.” She rested her head on his shoulder and draped an arm on his chest, something she seemed to do a lot during these times, and he wrapped an arm behind her. 

“Having him.” She tilted her head up at him.

“James, you know I love him to pieces.”

“I know, but… if you could go back to that night we, you know, and change it, would you?”

This time Lily looked up into his eyes, green meeting hazel. She reached up with her hand and gently touched his face, her thumb rubbing small circles on his cheek. “No, of course not. James, you’re the best father someone could ever have.”

He removed her hand and turned away, noticeably swallowing. “Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if you’d said yes to my proposal. Reckon Harry might have a little sister.”

Lily’s eyes softened, taking his hand. “James, we were so young. We had our whole lives ahead of us.”

He threw his head back slightly and let out a small chuckle. “Imagine the irony when you turned out to be pregnant, that the last time we had sex we’d forgotten protection.” 

“You were so intent on keeping him.” She eyes were focused on their entwined hands, a sight she had not seen in years.

“I can’t believe you ever had thoughts of not keeping him.” His eyes flickered over to their son, who was lying in a pile of tubes connecting him to the heart monitor and a bunch of other equipment James could not name. His chest heaved up and down in equal intervals as he slept peacefully. “I thought if I had him around I’d still have a piece of you— of us— with me. You having Harry looked like it was some sort of sign for the future, our future.”

“I don’t deserve you,” she muttered.

“Hey, don’t say that.” His hand broke away from hers to cup her chin, forcing her to tear her gaze from her hand to his face. “That one year we were together was the best relationship I’ve ever been in.”

She looked away. “I hurt you so much. You should have hated me.”

“Nah, I could never hate you, Lil.” He removed his hand from her chin and put it back at her side, nudging her head back onto his shoulder. He ran his hand through her hair, the softness soothing him. 

“I love you,” Lily said after a moment’s silence.

“Yeah?” he asked, the edges of his lips curling up.

“Yeah, I reckon so.”

“Well I love you too, Lily Jane Evans.”

And maybe this could have been a perfect opportunity for the two to engage in the romantic act of kissing, especially after professing their love to one another, but the moment seemed too bizarre to consider it with what they had been through. Their touches were enough of an assurance to one another. They had gone through so much together, adulthood and parenthood giving them the understanding they had lacked when they were younger.

So James just pressed another kiss to her temple, urging her to sleep and that he’d nudge her awake when their son woke up.

James’s hopefulness for the future kept him out of boredom for the next hours that passed. When Harry began shifting in the bed, he, as he promised, gently prodded Lily awake.

“Hey buddy. Give us a right scare, you did,” James smiled at his son when his eyes opened.

“Daddy. Mummy. Hi.” Harry gave them a drowsy smile, an obvious effect of the medicine he had been given. Upon seeing their closeness, Harry felt all the sleepiness in him disappear. His eyes widened. “Are you and Mummy— ?”

“Baby, would you like if your mummy and daddy were together?”

He shot up from the bed, but not long before a pained look was etched on his face. “Woah, there mate. Be careful.” James held out a hand to steady the small boy.

He beamed at him. “Thanks Daddy.” He turned back towards Lily. “Do you really mean it?”

“‘Course we do, Har.” James smiled at the boy.

“Do you really mean it when you promise that you’ll never scare us like that again?” Lily asked, and Harry suddenly grew shy, looking away from them.

“Harry James Potter, do you have something to tell us?” His parents were smart people; of course they would quickly realize that something was up. He knew it was serious when Mummy addressed him with his full name. He also knew that he might as well go out and say it before he got in deep trouble.

“I set up the dinner so you two can be together,” Harry said quickly.

Lily’s eyes softened, and James laughed. “We knew that, mate. No need to look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“...and I ate the sauce on purpose so it could get me in the hospital,” he finished.

“Harry James Potter!” his parents had exploded.

“It’s okay! I’m okay! You’re okay! And everything is okay!”

“If you weren’t my son I’d have offed you,” James nearly growled.

“Did your Uncle Padfoot put you up to this?” Lily asked.

“I asked him for a plan, but it’s not his fault at all!”

“You could have died, Har,” James reminded him.

“But I didn’t!”

James groaned. “Why did you have to get my prat traits?” He turned towards Lily. “Why couldn’t he get all your personality traits?”

“Harry, what you did was very dangerous. Do you know how sad you could have made Mummy and Daddy if you died?” Lily looked at the small boy, who felt guiltier by the passing second.

“I’m sorry, Mummy. I just wanted us all to be a happy family.”

“I know, baby, but you could have just told us how you were really feeling instead of making a big plan.”

“Promise you won’t do that again, yeah?” James added.

“I promise.”

“Pinky swear on it?” James stuck said finger out, and Harry intertwined it with his own. 

“Mummy, you have to join in!” Lily let out a small laugh and added her own finger. He beamed. “We can never break promises.” 

James and Lily smiled at him. “I reckon we can’t, buddy.”

And so later when Harry was officially discharged from the hospital, boasting about the cool bracelet they got him— it was just his medical identification wristband— Harry followed his daddy into his room, and he showed him his own piece of jewelry he had kept in his drawer. Harry saw that it was a ring, and he already knew what it meant. He had a feeling that his daddy had it for quite some time now.

“Don’t tell Mummy, okay? This is a surprise for tomorrow.” 

“Okay, Daddy.”

“Tell me what?” Lily walked into the room, pressing a soft kiss on each Potter man’s cheek. James wrapped his arm around her.

Harry smiled at her. There were so many things he could have said in response. He could have ruined his daddy’s surprise, which he would never in a million years do because he loved his daddy too much to do that, and frankly he would have been in big trouble, which meant that life wouldn’t give him any more lemons. 

He could have responded with a simple “I can’t tell you” to show that there was indeed something that his daddy was hiding from her, but he knew his mummy would pry and try to get the information out of him.

He could have even just said “Nothing” to change the topic and to get his mummy to forget about it, but that wouldn’t have worked.

Instead, with Harry’s mind on the future and the prospect that everything would be different from that point on, he thought that his answer should relate to all of that.

“Tell you that we’re one big happy family.”


End file.
